Oh, to Be Like Thee!
Blessed Redeemer
Pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness,
Come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image
Deep on my heart. 

The beautiful words of this beloved hymn remind us of the Christian’s goal: to be like Christ. Jesus taught his disciples that the well-trained disciple would be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). Paul encouraged the Corinthians to imitate him as he tried to imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).

The old covenant, the one that God established with His people on Mount Sinai, the old covenant was based on a strict set of laws. “Do this and you will live” was the idea that was set forth. When God established His new covenant with His people, we might have expected a whole new set of laws. Instead, we received God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He came and showed us how to live life the way God wants us to.

(I should comment, of course, that Jesus was much more than an example. He came and gave His life to earn our salvation. We are saved because of what He has done, not because of what we do. He was the atonement for our sin.)

When Jesus spoke to His disciples about how they should live, he frequently pointed to himself. When he taught them about service and humility, he gave himself as an example (Mark 10:43-45; John 13:13-15). He told them that His love was the new standard for how they should love (John 13:34). He did not just bring God’s message; He lived it.

Paul considered that the Christian life was about becoming like Christ. He spoke of the body growing up into the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15) and taught that God’s Holy Spirit is continually molding us into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). He wrote that we were predestined to be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29), speaking of our having a new self that was meant to be like God (Ephesians 4:24), meant to be shaped in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3:10). When he wrote to the Thessalonians, he said that he knew that their conversion was real because they had become imitators of him and of Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

Because of this, Paul could appeal to Jesus as the standard for how to bear with one another (Romans 15:3-7). We give not because of law but because of the example of Christ (2 Corinthians 8:9); those who want to be like Christ will do what Christ did. Paul says that we should live a life of love because of the sacrificial love of Christ (Ephesians 5:2). He tells masters to treat their slaves fairly because of the way our Lord treats us (Ephesians 6:9). Basically, what Paul tells us to do is live out Jesus’ life (2 Corinthians 4:10).

The other New Testament writers did the same, calling us to be like the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2-4), to follow His example of suffering (1 Peter 2:21-24) and to follow His example of love (1 John 3:16). We are consistently called to look to Christ as the perfect example for our lives.

There is a famous story about the artist Michelangelo. One version goes like this:  When Michelangelo sculpted the great statue of David in Florence and brought it into the square, people were just awed. It is one of the most marvelous pieces of sculpture in the world’s history — fourteen feet of white marble. Someone walked up to Michelangelo and said, “How in the world did you do it?” He said, “Oh, it really wasn’t that much. I was in the quarry and I saw David in this marble block. I took it home and I very carefully chipped away everything that wasn’t David.” That’s a good description for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. His goal is to make us like Jesus.

Let me use the words of another great hymn to close these thoughts:

Sweet is the tender love Jesus hath shown,
Sweeter far than any love that mortals have known;
Kind to the erring one, Faithful is He;
He the great example is, and pattern for me.

Where He leads I’ll follow. May Jesus himself be the pattern for our lives and for our church.